1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to information retrieval and, more particularly, to approaches for information retrieval.
2. Description of the Related Art
The information age has led to an environment where information access is becoming increasingly important. Various challenges result from so many people accessing information. Further exacerbating the challenges, business entities (such as corporations) typically have their information in many different formats, and different people with different skill sets access the information using different information devices. The information devices can be wired or wireless. Currently, more and more people are trying to get access to information through wireless means.
Information devices, e.g., information appliances, can access information through various different types of user interfaces. The most common type of user interface is a keypad that is integral with the information device. Such keypads for portable information devices are typically reduced-size keypads that allow for the entry of individual alphanumeric characters (i.e., 0-9, A-Z, *, #). Text entry is particularly tedious with reduced-size keyboards because each button is not only physically small but also ambiguous and thus requires that the user enter multiple key presses to precisely identify each character to be entered.
Another type of user interface relies on voice recognition to receive user input. Presently, voice recognition is not mature enough for pervasive use. In addition, voice recognition approaches are not appropriate for many applications or situations. Still another type of user interface relies on handwriting recognition. For example, certain personal digital assistants use handwriting as a user interface. This can be a versatile approach. However, such technologies are not so well developed as to allow one to write quickly, while still accurately recognizing the handwriting.
Yet still another type of user interface uses one or a series of predetermined menus that a user interacts with to make selections using a pointing mechanism or using data entry keys or buttons. For example, NTT DoCoMo of Japan has been quite successful with a mobile telephone that uses such a user interface for wireless Internet access. Typically, out of a user menu of a fixed number of choices, a user selects one. For example, a pull-down menu can be displayed, and the user can select one element out of the menu being displayed. Additional detailed menus can further refine the user's choice. In general, this type of user interface is inflexible and offers only a limited number of choices. For example, there may be seven top level choices, each with a limited number of sub-choices. Once you pick one of the sub-choices, you may be directed to receive a webpage by wireless means. The menus utilized are static and lack intelligence. As a result, conventional user interfaces that use menus are not suitable for general information access.
It should have been apparent from the foregoing that there is a need for improved approaches to access information from information appliances.